"If you find that when the chips are down your host support is nowhere to be found, then the cost is too high."

On the web your host is everything. All those images and video, those PhotoShopped graphics, even that cool domain name ­ none of it means anything if your server is down. Your hosting provider is your lifeline.

How well do you know your adult host? Have you ever spoken to them on the phone or met them in person? When you do call, do they know you? How long does it take for them to rectify problems with your account? Are you able to talk live with the support desk? Are you made to suffer some ungodly ritual of button pressing and hold time before you get to speak to someone who can do something about your predicament? Can you reach them through email or ICQ? How long do you have to wait until you get a response? When you get your response do they try to fix the dilemma right away or tell you to check back later? How long is later?

When you run a commercial site and it goes offline, every minute, hour and day is time when you’re not making money. Paying for substandard support makes it even worse. It’s one thing if a site goes down for a few hours or a day or two but if those days add up to anywhere near a week, then it might be time to find another provider.

Sure, things happen. Servers get hacked. Software gets upgraded. Hardware gets replaced. Some glitches are simply unavoidable. These are the costs of doing business. However, if you find that when the chips are down your host support is nowhere to be found, then the cost is too high. Whether you pay ten dollars a month or ten thousand, your site needs to be online 24/7.

If find it simply amazing that there are webmaster who refuse to use the telephone when they need tech support from their host. These webmasters complain of sending email after email with no response. While I agree that they deserve a reply, it boggles my mind that they won’t perform the simple act of picking up a telephone and dialing the number of their hosting provider.

I know. Sometimes your host is in another city, another state or another country. Long distance charges are pricey or your business hours don’t match up with your provider’s. These are unfortunate circumstances but they’re not impossible to overcome. In a perfect cyberworld we should be able to get email replies promptly, but we don’t live in a perfect cyberworld. Even a small adult hosting company receives hundreds of emails a day. It’s simply unrealistic to assume that your email is going to somehow stand out among all the others. They’ll get back to you but you will have to wait your turn.

The most important step you can take to help insure that your experience goes well is to get to know your host.

Where are they located? What hours of the day will they be there to answer your questions and assist you when things go wrong? What are the names of the people on the tech support staff? Is your provider a big company with hundreds or thousands of clients? Is your provider a small company? If there’s a big convention going on will most of their employees be out of town when your server crashes? How about ICQ numbers? Is your host or an employee on your contact list? If your provider claims to be available 24/7 have you tested that claim?

Here’s a suggestion from me to you:

Pick a good time of day when you know the folks at your hosting company will be on site. Consider office hours, lunch hours and factor in time zones. 9:00 AM CST is 7:00 AM Pacific time. When you’ve got that figured out call your host. Introduce yourself. Tell them the name of your site. Ask them pertinent questions like who will be on the support desk at 3:00 in the morning. Ask them what’s the best thing you can do if something goes awry with your server. Find out the names of the techs. Get to know these people so that they will know you. Do it before problems arise. Do it while you’re calm. Do it while you’re not in crisis mode. Know your host!